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The Hudsucker Proxy

The Hudsucker Proxy

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $15.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the film "The Hudsucker Proxy"
Review: one of the most visually beautiful films, by one of the most skilled cinamatographers ever to hit the cinama sceen. Every shot, from start to finish, brings you into the wonderful world of Joel & Ethan Coen. In this subversive fairytale-like story, the Coens brillently mix shades of "The Big Clock", and even "Citizen Kane" as they poke at a Capra-esque plot line towards halarious attacks at the soulessness of Big Buisness in mid-century Manhatten . Tim Robbens & Jenifer Jason Leigh give the proformences of their lives as classic screwball charicters Coenized. This is the Coens most under-rated (or thoughtlesly raited) film. It is to me their second best (right after "Fargo"... with "Barton Fink", "The Big Lebowski", and "Millers Crossing" close behind as the Coes most ingenious, inventive masterpieces. END

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Boring beyond belief
Review: This is one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. I wish I could give the movie a rating of zero stars, but that isn't an option. I just got through watching "The Sword of the Valiant", it was so bad it made me smile. "The Hudsucker Proxy" is so bad it made me groan. I couldn't wait for it to end. It was pure torture, I expected a lot better from Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. I would just burn the DVD, but maybe I can find someone who will be as taken by this movie as all the other people who gave it glowing reviews, maybe one of them would be willing to give me the $15 I paid for this turkey.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: You'll Either Love It Or Hate It
Review: Positives:

1) It is original, different, and fun. If you are tired of the same ol' movie that Hollywood basically stamps from a mold then you might enjoy the different pace of this movie.
2) Humor. Some of the humor is over the top and some of the parts where they were reaching for a laugh will actually have you looking at your neighbor and sighing. However, if you stick with it, there are a few parts that are actually worth laughing at. But be prepared, it is a different type of humor that I can imagine many won't understand.
3) Family Friendly (almost). For the most part, the women are dressed modestly and there is no cussing. However, there are some thematic elements (i.e., suicide and corporate scandals) that you might want to be ready to explain to the kids. Not recommended for really young children.

Negatives
1) Plot. Well, the plot of the good-natured person that somebody raises to the top to walk all over them has been done and redone so many times that this just becomes a Hollywood cliche. However, the plot is also fairly unrealistic.
2) Easy Way Out. Okay, it seems that whenever our "hero" is in a bind, something pops up unexpectedly that ends up saving the day. That aspect actually lacks of creativity... which is something we have come to expect from the Coen brothers. Wait until you see how our Barnes survives slipping on the ledge of a 44/45 story building.
3) Boring. Though the people are pretty fast talkers, the pace of the movie is actually pretty slow... as if the creators were trying to find out how to stretch it out into a full-length movie.
4) Acting. Oh, the acting is atrocious. Don't be looking for any academy award acting here (I never looked, but I highly suspect nobody was nominated here). The acting is waaaaay over the top and distracts from the story being told.

So, you may love it and you may hate it. I hope I've helped you figure out which group you belong in. Not recommended to watching in groups as this will not please everybody.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Silly, Sorry, Skip It
Review: This is not one of Newman's better flics. The plot is ridiculous, the acting is so so and the characters are actually annoying.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Boring beyond belief
Review: A film by the Coen Brothers

"The Hudsucker Proxy" is the fantastic story of Noville Barnes (Tim Robbins). Norville is just some poor shmoe looking for work, but he isn't qualified for anything and he has no work experience. He takes a job as a mailroom clerk at Hudsucker Industries. We're not sure what they do or what they make, but at a board meeting, we find out the company is posting record profits. When a man is done with his litany of the company's successes, the chairman, Mr Hudsucker himself, stands up on the long table, starts running, and commits suicide by jumping out the window and falling to his death.

What to do? The rest of the board needs to be able to purchase a controlling interest in Hudsucker stock, but the stock price is too high. The formulate a plan to temporarily drive down the stock prices by hiring as president of the company someone so incompetent that shareholders will be so scared that stock prices will plummet. The dimwit president: Norville Barnes. It is Sidney Mussburger (Paul Newman) who is pulling the strings behind the scenes to make all this happen; it is his master plan that sets all this in motion.

Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is the fast talking reporter who goes undercover to investigate Norville and find out why Hudsucker would have hired him as the president. "The Hudsucker Proxy" is funny in a smart, clever way, and is highly entertaining. The Coen Brothers do not make ordinary or conventional movies ("Intolerable Cruelty" aside), but they definitely make some of the top movies of any given year.

-Joe Sherry

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not the Coens greatest, but.............
Review: This is a great movie from the Coen brothers. It is not a violent or gory as some of their other films, but there are certainly some very devious characters. The movie includes a heavily character driven story, it is very well paced and fun all the way through. The visual style is brilliant, showcasing the Coen brother's ability to make film footage of ordinary settings seem surreal and slightly comic bookish, and they keep it up consistently for the length of a movie. This inevitably aids their storytelling by making the movie's world distinct and vivid as a setting for the characters who are equally ordinary yet unmistakeably unusual.


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